LORD Mandelson came under fire last night for boasting about how Labour encouraged millions of immigrants to flock to Britain.

The former Labour Cabinet minister joked that in 2004 the Tony Blair government not only welcomed people to work but sent out search parties to find migrants because of staff shortages in some economic sectors.

Tories seized on his outburst as a confession that Labour had allowed Britain’s border controls to spiral out of control.

Lord Mandelson’s remarks were made to Labour activists at a weekend conference.

Annual net immigration soared by 65 per cent in 2004 after EU border controls with eastern Europe were relaxed.

Overall the figure quadrupled during Labour’s time in office with a total net influx of ­2.2million between 1997 and 2010.

Ed Miliband has neither the courage nor the conviction to face up to Labour’s undeniable litany of failures on immigration

Grant Shapps

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said: “Peter Mandelson’s candid admission that Labour were purposefully letting immigration spiral out of control when in government is yet another damning indictment on their record on immigration.

“Yet Ed Miliband has neither the courage nor the conviction to face up to Labour’s undeniable litany of failures on immigration and refuses to back our new Immigration Bill.”

Speaking at a conference organised by Labour’s Progress group, Lord Mandelson said: “The issue of immigration is more economic than social. The problem has grown during the period of economic stagnation over the past five, six years, because in 2004 when as a Labour government we were not only welcoming people to come into this country to work, we were sending out search parties for people and encouraging them, in some cases, to take up work in this country because we were almost, a sort of full employment economy.

“The situation is different obviously now. We have to just realise and just take cognisance that the entry to the labour market of many people of non-British origin is hard for people who are finding it very difficult to find jobs, who find it hard to keep jobs. For these people immigration tends to loom large in their lives and in their worlds.

“Now that is an inescapable fact and we have to understand it, address it, engage with people in discussion about it.”

Labour faced more controversy over immigration last night when Gordon Brown, who once called for “British jobs for British ­workers”, accused the Tories of implementing the border control policies once demanded by the anti-immigration campaigner Enoch Powell.

In a speech in Scotland, the former prime minister said: “A party which was once pro-Europe is now anti-Europe.

“A party which was once anti-Powellite on ­immigration is now becoming very close to being Powellite on that issue.”